S.I. No. 44/1998 - Organisation of Working Time (Code of Practice on Compensatory Rest and Related Matters) (Declaration) Order, 1998

1. An activity consisting of, or connected with, the operation of any vehicle, train, vessel, aircraft or other means of transport (whether of goods or persons) other than any activity of a person holding a position of an administrative, managerial or clerical nature that is not directly related to the operation of such a means of transport.

2. An activity that is carried on —

(a) for the purpose of the transport timetable, that is to say an activity that is carried on for the purpose of ensuring the continuity or regularity of any service which provides a means of transport referred to in paragraph 1 above, or

(b) for the purpose of ensuring the safety of such a means of transport,

other than any activity of a person holding a position of an administrative, managerial or clerical nature that is not directly related to the doing of the things required to be done for either such purpose.

3. In paragraph 1 "vessel" includes any vessel used to navigate inland waters (including any lake).

NOTE — Compensatory rest periods

It should be noted that an employer is not obliged to ensure that an employee engaged in these activities has available to himself or herself equivalent compensatory rest. However, Regulation 3 of these Regulations provides that the exemption shall not apply as respects a particular employee if he or she is not engaged wholly or mainly in carrying on or performing the duties of the activity concerned.

GIVEN under my hand this 24th day of February, 1998.

TOM KITT, T.D.

Minister for Labour, Trade and Consumer Affairs.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This Order declares the code of practice set out in the Schedule to the Order to be a code of practice on compensatory rest periods for the purposes of

section 6

of the

Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997

(No. 20 of 1997).

4. Where a determination of the Labour Court has not been implemented, within six weeks from the date on which the determination is communicated to the parties, the Circuit Court, on application to it by an employee, trade union or the Minister, shall, without hearing the employer or any evidence, make an order directing the employer to carry out the determination in accordance with its terms.

5. The Circuit Court, if it deems it appropriate to do so, may direct the employer to pay interest on the compensation in respect of any period commencing 6 weeks following the communication of the Labour Court's determination to the parties and ending on the date of the order.

6. The application to the Circuit Court will be in the Circuit where the employer usually resides or carries out the business.

ANNEX

EXEMPTED ACTIVITIES

GENERAL EXEMPTIONS

The Organisation of Working Time (General Exemptions) Regulations, 1998 (

S.I. No. 21 of 1998

) prescribe, in accordance with

Section 4

(3) of the

Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997

, that persons employed in the following activities shall be exempt from the application of sections 11, 12 and 13 of the Act which deal respectively with daily rest, rests and intervals at work and weekly rest

7. The circumstances in which the rest times and averaging periods for weekly working hours may be varied are as follows:—

(I) SECTION 6(1) OF THE ACT PROVIDES FOR CIRCUMSTANCES

• Where Regulations* exempt certain activities from the rest breaks, daily and weekly rest periods set out in sections 11, 12 and 13 of the 1997 Act.

* See Annex to this Code — General Excemption Regulations (

S.I. No. 21 of 1998

)

• Where collective agreements providing for a similar exemption have been concluded by the parties and approved by the Labour Court. (Registered Employment Agreements and Employment Regulation Orders may also provide for the variation of rest periods, but not of working time provisions.)

In every case at (I) above where statutory rest times are varied the employer concerned must ensure that equivalent compensatory rest is made available to the employee.

(II) SECTION 6(2) OF THE ACT PROVIDES FOR CIRCUMSTANCES

• Where shift workers who change shift and cannot avail themselves of the rest period are exempted (in respect of the daily and weekly rest periods).

• Where persons employed in activities consisting of periods of work spread out over the day are exempted (in respect of the daily and weekly rest periods).

• Where employers are exempted from the obligation to provide daily and weekly rest periods and rest breaks as provided for in sections 11, 12 and 13 of the Act due to exceptional circumstances or an emergency, including an accident or the imminent risk of an accident, or otherwise the occurrence of unusual and unforeseeable circumstances beyond the employer's control.

Where statutory rest times are varied in any of the circumstances mentioned at (II) above the employer must ensure that the employee has available to himself or herself

i) equivalent compensatory rest or

ii) where this is not possible for objective reasons, appropriate protection.

NOTE

While circumstances relating to shift changeover come within the scope of the exemption included in the legislation, shift working is subject to the provisions in the Act providing for rest and maximum working time.

S.I. No. 44 of 1998.

ORGANISATION OF WORKING TIME (CODE OF PRACTICE ON COMPENSATORY REST AND RELATED MATTERS) (DECLARATION) ORDER, 1998

WHEREAS the Labour Relations Commission may, by virtue of

section 35

(2) of the

Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997

(No. 20 of 1997), prepare a code of practice for the purposes of one or more sections of that Act (other than section 6(2)),

AND WHEREAS the Labour Relations Commission is required, by virtue of section 35(3) of the said Act, after consultation with the National Authority for Occupational Safety and Health, to prepare a code of practice for the purposes of section 6(2) of that Act,

AND WHEREAS the Labour Relations Commission, having consulted with the National Authority for Occupational Safety and Health and having complied with section 35(4) of the said Act, has prepared a code of practice for the purposes aforesaid and submitted a copy of it to the Minister for Labour, Trade and Consumer Affairs (being the Minister of State to whom functions in this matter have been delegated by the Order hereafter recited),

AND WHEREAS the Minister for Labour, Trade and Consumer Affairs may, by virtue of section 35(5)(b) of the said Act, make such modifications to a code of practice so submitted to him and declare, by order, the code as so modified to be a code of practice for the purposes of the section or sections concerned of that Act,

AND WHEREAS the Minister for Labour, Trade and Consumer Affairs has, by virtue of the said provision, made modifications that he considers appropriate to the code of practice so submitted to him for the purposes of declaring, pursuant to that provision, the code to be a code of practice for the purposes of the sections concerned of the said Act,

NOW, I Tom Kitt, Minister for Labour, Trade and Consumer Affairs, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 35(5)(b) of the

Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997

(No. 20 of 1997), as adapted by the Enterprise and Employment (Alteration of Name of Department and Title of Minister) Order, 1997 (

S.I. No. 305 of 1997

), and the Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Delegation of Ministerial Functions) (No. 2) Order, 1997 (

S.I. No. 330 of 1997

), hereby order as follows

1 Citation

1.

This Order may be cited as the Organisation of Working Time (Code of Practice on Compensatory Rest and Related Matters) (Declaration) Order, 1998.

2 Code of Practice

2.

The code of practice set out in the Schedule to this Order is hereby declared to be a code of practice for the purposes of

section 6

of the

Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997

(No. 20 of 1997), so much of the other provisions of Part I of that Act as relate to that section and so much of Parts II and IV of that Act as relate to that section.

SCHEDULE

ORGANISATION OF WORKING TIME ACT, 1997

CODE OF PRACTICE ON COMPENSATORY REST PERIODS AND RELATED MATTERS

Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Dublin 2.

An Order (

S.I. No. 44 of 1998

) declaring this code to be a Code of Practice for the purposes of

section 6

of the

Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997

was made by Tom Kitt, Minister for Labour, Trade and Consumer Affairs on 24/2/1998.

NOTE:— This Code of Practice is not a legal interpretation of the Act

CONTENTS

PAGE NO.